First pitch: Castro starts at DH

One day after Jason Castro hit two home runs, Bo Porter gave his starting catcher a break from behind the plate by starting him as the Astros’ designated hitter Sunday against the A’s. Carlos Corporan started behind the plate against the A’s.

“One of the huge advantages of being an American League team is the fact that you can move the DH around and you can keep guys in the lineup that you want to keep their bat in the lineup,” Porter said. “At the same time you want to be able to keep Jason Castro as fresh as possible. I told him this coming into spring training, ‘I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you healthy throughout the whole season and have you catch as many games as possible.’”

Castro is hitting .265 with six home runs and 15 RBIs while appearing to have shaken off the knee problems that plagued him the previous two seasons.

“It’s taxing to the body to get back there and squat 135-140 pitches every night,” Porter said of catching. “Another thing, it’s taxing from a mental standpoint at calling a major league game. You have to know all of their hitters and now you have to know the pitchers as it relates to your at-bats.

“Catching is probably one of the most difficult positions to play every day at the major league level. And when you add in the factor of a bad knee and now you’re dealing with your inability to really block the ball the way you want to block it, which mentally I think that played a huge factor on his ability to call a game (last year).

“Because if you are worried about your knee holding up and blocking balls are you really going to call breaking balls in the dirt? Are you really going to call the game the way your mind tells you to call the game or are you going to say to yourself, ‘I hope I don’t have to block the ball today.’ Then you take those dynamics to the batter’s box and you’re not feeling like your legs are underneath you. If a hitter doesn’t have his legs underneath you, what do you do? You just flail at the ball. You don’t drive the ball consistently. I think all of it is a combination of you’re starting to see a healthy Jason Castro with his legs underneath him and we’re seeing the player that we all believed we drafted him in the first round.”